5th scene from the Son of Man

Edward Selander first professed to be a Christian in 1973. He attended church regularly the first few years, but became disillusioned and began to fall away from the traditional Christian teachings. In 1977, he began a pilgrimage to find “the one true church.” (his own words). After a “long and arduous search” he found that virtually all of the earth’s religions were “abominations in the eyes of God” (again, his own words). In 1979, he ordained himself a minister, declared himself a Prophet of God, and founded the Church of the End Times. His new religion had a pretty good run in the early 1980s, but quickly dwindled and died by the end of the decade.1

When his church failed, Edward made himself a recluse and withdrew into the woods of Tennessee where he had planned to live out a solitary life. The mailman found him lying in the middle of a dirt road two miles from his shack. He was rushed to the nearest hospital in Franklin, where he lay in a deep coma. It had been determined that he’d been bitten by a rabid raccoon.2

As Edward progressed deeper into the ravages of the disease, he was moved to John the Baptist Hospital in Nashville where modern medical intervention made it possible for him to linger for two more agonizing months.3

Nurse Nicole Pangos adjusted his ventilator and checked his pupils. They were fully dilated, showing no brain activity whatsoever. That was to be expected. The virus had ravaged his brain tissue until there was little left. For all intents and purposes, Edward Selander no longer had a brain. In fact, a machine was beating his heart and another was breathing for him. He was dead, if not clinically.4

Nurse Pangos began giving Edward his daily sponge bath. Lifting his frail chest high off the bed, she untied the light blue hospital smock, pulled it down to his waist and began washing his chest and arms. Suddenly Edward’s legs began to quake. Nurse Pangos backed away, let the seizure run its course, and then continued washing. She pulled his respirator off long enough to lift his upper torso, allowing her access to his back. She scrubbed hard, paying close attention to the reddening patches developing around his shoulder blades and hipbones. Satisfied he was clean, she laid him back on the bed and moved to his legs.5

Pulling the covers down past Edward’s feet, she lifted the smock allowing her access to his upper thighs. She had just resumed scrubbing when she felt his legs began to tremble. This time she paid little attention. She was running late and there were other patients who needed to be bathed. She began curiously inspecting the bite mark still clearly visible just above his right knee when she became aware of an odd sensation—a stirring near her right ear. Then she felt something warm… air, breath—hot, putrid breath—blowing on her right cheek. She turned and nearly collided noses with a face, its black pupil-filled eyes inches from her own.6

***7

Nurse Wright heard the terrified screaming all the way back at the nurse’s station. Unsure of where the screams were coming from, she jumped from behind the desk and began sprinting down the hall. Within seconds, she pinpointed the room and burst through Edward Selander’s door. From her immediate vantage point she could see wild-eyed Nurse Pangos crouching in the corner of the room still shrieking. 8

Rounding the corner, Nurse Wright skidded to a stop. To her horror, Selander’s body was sitting stiffly upright on the bed. A scream burst from deep within her as she saw his dead eyes stare blankly at the hysterical nurse Pangos. Then his long dead, atrophied neck muscles began responding to his non-existent brain. Slowly, the head began turning towards Nurse Wright. The grisly black eyes, void of life, mechanically moved with the head until the ghastly face came full around and fixed a terrifying stare in the direction of Nurse Wright. Thick spit slowly oozed from the chin, hanging haphazardly from the contorted face.9

Suddenly Nurse Joe Glines, one of the male nurses, blasted into the room. What he saw sent him reeling backwards into the wall.10

***11

“What’s happening?” Senator Groyden asked.12

“I don’t know,” the news reporter answered, moving toward the hospital room door. She peeked out into the hall then turned back. “Could you excuse me for a moment, Senator?”13

“Is that someone screaming?” the Senator asked.14

“I don’t know,” she answered, still staring down the hall in the direction of the commotion. 15

“Uh, I’m gonna go down there for a moment, Senator, okay? I’ll be right back.”16

She disappeared into the hall without getting an answer. The cameraman stood looking at the senator for an uncomfortable moment. “I’m sure she’ll be…right back.” 17

The senator scowled as the cameraman nervously went silent, turning his attention to his camera. Suddenly, the reporter reappeared in the doorway.18

“Bring…camera…now…run…bring the camera…now!” She was ashen faced and screaming.19

“What?”20

She jumped, grabbed the cameraman, and pulled him out the door. The two clattered down the hall and turned into Edward Selander’s room. The cameraman gasped as the horror filled his viewfinder. He dropped his camera to his chest and joined Nurse Joe Glines, pressing himself against the wall. 21

The reporter pushed her way through the mayhem toward the cameraman. “Take…get…get this!” She pushed the camera back into the cameraman’s face. Again, the horror filled the camera’s view screen. 22

Something deep inside of what was left of Edward Selander began pushing air through dead, atrophied, vocal cords. As his oozing mouth began forming words, Nurse Joe Glines lost control of his bladder. 23

“Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth!”24

The voice sounded like heavy grade sandpaper grinding across a piece of hardwood.25

“Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth!”26

The voice reverberated out of the room and down the hall, invading every room until every corner of the hospital was vibrating with the sound of it.27

“How thou art fallen from heaven, o Lucifer, son of the morning! How thou art cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!”28

The three nurses and the news crew stood staring at the horror before them, still sitting up on the bed. The camera rolled as the very air in the room began to thicken. From nowhere and everywhere, near and far, it started softly at first. It was, they were almost sure, but it didn’t sound human … it sounded like… screaming. It sounded like a billion voices in one immense chorus. Like the unearthly disconnected screams of the forever damned.29

The sound was building into an unimaginable roar. Everyone in the room cupped their ears and hit the floor. Nurse Joe Glines glanced up just in time to see the horror collapse onto the bed like a rag doll.30

Edward Selander had finally been granted his long awaited death.31

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